Constitutional Court: "Providing Paid Leave to Workers on Leave Due to Occupational Injuries is Constitutional"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Labor Standards Act, which mandates paid leave for workers who do not attend work due to occupational injuries, is constitutional.

On the 6th, the Constitutional Court announced that it made a unanimous decision that the Labor Standards Act, which requires paid leave based on annual leave, is constitutional in response to a constitutional complaint filed by defense industry company A, claiming that the law infringes on the freedom to work.

An employee of company A was diagnosed with anxiety disorder due to work-related stress in December 2000 and underwent long-term medical treatment until July 2012. After completing the long-term treatment, the employee requested the company to pay unpaid annual leave allowances for the years 2008 to 2010, which had not expired under the statute of limitations. According to the Labor Standards Act, an employee who is on leave due to an occupational illness is considered to have attended work.

Article 60, Paragraph 4 of the Labor Standards Act stipulates that workers who have worked continuously for more than three years are entitled to paid leave, with one additional day of leave granted for every two years of service.

However, company A argued that it could not pay the annual leave allowance according to the collective agreement. In October 2012, the employee filed a lawsuit against company A, claiming unpaid leave wages and annual leave allowances for the treatment period, including the unpaid annual leave allowances for 2008 to 2010, which had not expired under the statute of limitations. Subsequently, during the lawsuit, company A requested a constitutional review of Article 60, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Standards Act, but after the request was dismissed, it filed a constitutional complaint in October 2017.

However, the Constitutional Court pointed out that "the provisions on annual leave in the Labor Standards Act are intended to provide workers who have worked for a certain period with opportunities for mental and physical rest and to improve their cultural life, and the legislative purpose is legitimate." It also stated, "Since unused annual paid leave expires if not used within one year, and the allowance for unused annual paid leave expires after three years, it is difficult to see this provision as violating the principle of proportionality or infringing on the freedom to work."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.